Rotary lawn mowers for cutting grass or other ground surface vegetation are well known. Typically, these mowers include a housing having an enclosed cutting chamber, and wheels that permit travel of the housing over the ground surface. A cutting blade may be supported within the cutting chamber for rotation in a substantially horizontal cutting plane. During operation, the rotating cutting blade severs grass and other vegetation over which the mower passes.
To permit a walking operator to guide and manipulate the mower, a handle assembly is generally provided to the rear of the housing. The handle assembly typically forms a U-shaped apparatus that includes two spaced-apart handle tubes joined together at their respective upper ends by a cross tube. The handle assembly may substantially lock, relative to the housing, during operation so that the operator may impart directional and control forces to the mower.
Modern mowers may also incorporate a collection hopper to permit bagging of grass/vegetation clippings. While some mowers utilize a side attached bag, others provide a rear bagging configuration to reduce the overall width of the mower. In the case of the latter, the collection hopper may be located generally between the handle tubes.
In most mower configurations, an internal combustion engine attaches to an upper surface of the housing to power the cutting blade. The engine typically includes a vertical drive shaft that extends downwardly through the housing and into the cutting chamber where it attaches to the blade. In some mowers, a transmission may also be coupled to the drive shaft to power one or more of the mower wheels.
The engine may incorporate a recoil starter as known in the art. Recoil starters provide a retractable rope or cord attached, at a first end, to a crank of the engine and, at a second end, to a T-shaped grip or the like. To start the engine, the operator simply applies a sufficient pulling force to the grip.
In some configurations, the starter rope is conveniently positioned such that it is accessible to the operator while he or she is standing behind the mower. That is, the starter rope may extend from the engine's recoil starter to a bracket mounted on the handle assembly. The bracket may hold the grip in a position that is easily accessible to the operator while standing behind the mower.
Although effective, when the starter rope is routed in this fashion, it extends over the space between the two handle tubes, e.g., over the collection hopper. As a result, the rope may potentially interfere with removal/emptying of the hopper.
One mower that seeks to alleviate this issue is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,472 to Christopherson. This mower utilizes, in one embodiment, a pull grip that may be easily disconnected from the bracket. Accordingly, the rope may be moved to a non-interfering position prior to emptying of the collection hopper.
However, while effective for their intended purpose, the mowers described by the '472 patent may require the operator to reconnect the starter rope to the bracket after reattachment of the hopper.